The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (141 page)

109 “He knew little”:
ibid.,
117.

111 “’tis generally known”: Sheila L. Skemp,
William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King
(New York, 1990), 4.

111 “Barbara”: Carl Van Doren,
Benjamin Franklin
(New York, 1938), 91.

112 “I therefore put”:
ABF,
143.

113 “civil gentlemen”:
PBF,
1:250–52.

115 “Apology for Printers”:
ibid.,
1:194–99.

118–21 “A considerable quantity … whole province”:
PG,
various issues 1731–1734.

122 “As to the abilities …
Almanack”:
Marion Barber Stowell,
Early American Almanacs: The Colonial Weekday Bible
(New York: 1977), xiv–7.

124 “Wit, learning, order”: Bernard Capp,
English Almanacs, 1500–1800
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1979), 23.

125 “Just published for 1733”:
PG,
Dec. 28, 1732,
PBF,
1:280.

125–26 “Courteous Reader … R. Saunders”:
PR,
1733.

126–27 “false prediction … performances are dead”:
The American Almanack for the Year of Christian Account,
1734.

127 “to receive”:
PR,
1734.

127 “If falsehood”:
American Almanack,
1735.

128–31 “Whatever may be … April shower”:
PR,
various issues 1733–42.

6. CITIZEN: 1735–40

133
A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper-Currency,
Apr. 3, 1729.

135 “old and lame”: “A.A.” to BF, Feb. 4, 1735.

137 “We will all”: articles of Union Fire Company,
PBF,
2:150–53.

137 “I question”:
ABF,
175.

138 “Though the salary”:
ibid.,
172.

138 “I saw”: John Pollock,
George Whitefield and the Great Awakening
(Garden City, N.Y., 1972), 4.

138 “the awe”: Josiah Smith in
The Great Awakening,
ed. Alan Heimert and Perry Miller (Indianapolis, 1967), 67–68.

139 “See!”: Stuart C. Henry,
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
(New York, 1957), 54.

139 “graceful and well-proportioned”:
ibid.,
27–28.

139–40 “The remembrance … redemption”:
George Whitefield’s Journals,
ed. William V. Davis (Gainesville, Fla., 1969), 29–48.

140 “the new birth”: L. Tyerman,
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield
(London, 1876), 32.

140 “I shall displease some”:
ibid.,
49–50.

141 “I preached”: Henry,
George Whitefield,
29.

141 “Mr. Whitefield’s auditors”:
ibid.,
38.

141 “mad trick”:
ibid.,
49.

141 “Blessed be God”:
Whitefield’s Journals,
209.

142 “His discourses”:
ABF,
147.

142 “new-light man”: Merton A. Christensen, “Franklin on the Hemphill Trial: Deism Versus Presbyterian Orthodoxy,”
WMQ
10 (1953), 426.

143 “most excellent discourses”:
ABF,
167.

143 “free-thinkers”: Christensen, “Franklin on the Hemphill Trial,” 427.

143 “What is Christ’s”:
PG,
Apr. 10, 1735, PBF.

144 “I rather approved”:
ABF,
168.

144 “malice and envy”:
Some Observations on the Proceedings against the Rev. Mr. Hemphill, PBF,
2:39, 48.

144–45 “the dominion … impiety”:
A Defense of Mr. Hemphill’s Observations, PBF,
2:90ff. [Note the title even though the observations in question were Franklin’s, not Hemphill’s.]

145 “like a boatswain”: Perry Miller,
Jonathan Edwards
(Cleveland, 1959), 166.

146 “never to do”:
ibid.,
138.

146 “The God”:
ibid.,
145–46.

147 “The multitudes”:
ABF,
175.

148 “The alteration”:
PG,
June 12, 1740, PBF.

148–50 “I had the curiosity … his death”:
ABF,
176–79.

150 “’tis true”: “A Defense of Conduct,”
PG,
Feb. 15, 1737/8, PBF.

151 “The coroner’s inquest”:
PG,
June 16, 1737,
PBF.

151–52 “very false … him afterwards”:
PG,
Feb. 15, 1737/8, PBF.

153 “They are in general”: to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, Apr. 13, 1738.

154 “I long regretted”:
ABF,
170.

155 “brings often afresh”: to Jane Franklin Mecom, Jan. 13, 1772.

156 “Thus it was”:
ABF,
170.

7. ARC OF EMPIRE: 1741–48

157 “We have had”: to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, Sept. 6, 1744.

158 “half Indianized French”: Howard H. Peckham,
The Colonial Wars 1689–1762
(Chicago, 1964), 30.

159 “I commended my soul”:
ibid.,
88.

160
“Nil desperandum”:
G. A. Rawlyk,
Yankees at Louisbourg
(Orono, Maine, 1967), 45.

161 “The enterprise … very uncertain”: Joseph Kelley,
Pennsylvania: The Colonial Years,
238–39.

161 “When I compare”: notes on Assembly debates, Feb. 26–28, 1745,
PBF.

162 “Our people”: to John Franklin, probably May 1745.

163 “the most mischievous”:
American Weekly Mercury,
Nov. 20, 1740.

164 “Teague’s Advertisement”:
PG,
Feb. 26, 1741, PBF.

164 “If you would keep”:
PR,
1741.

165 “From the short”: to Strahan, July 4, 1744.

165 “Trust to his generosity”: Strahan to Hall, Mar. 9 and June 22, 1745,
PBF,
2:409n.

166 “In these northern”:
An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places, PBF,
2:419ff.

167 “the new-invented Philadelphia Fire Places”:
Boston Evening Post,
Sept. 8, 1746.

167 “That as we enjoy”:
ABF
192.

167 “Another sun”:
Account, PBF,
2:446.

168
A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge,
May 14, 1743, PBF.

169 “I long very much”: from Colden, Oct. 1743.

170 “I cannot”: to Colden, Nov. 4, 1743.

170 “I long to know”: from Colden, Dec. 1744.

170 “The members”: to Colden, Aug. 15, 1745.

171 “You shall know”:
ibid.

171 “I intend”: to Colden, Nov. 28, 1745.

171 “Suppose two globes”: to unknown recipient, copied to Colden, Oct. 16, 1746.

172 “I have not time”: to Colden, Feb. 1746.

172 “My dear Friend”: to unknown, June 25, 1745.

174 “The Antediluvians”:
PBF,
3:52.

175 “Of their Chloes”: “I Sing My Plain Country Joan,”
PBF,
2:353–54.

176 “Sally was inoculated”: memorandum, Apr. 18, 1746.

176 “Your granddaughter”: to Abiah Franklin, Oct. 16, 1747.

176 “Sally grows”: to Abiah Franklin, Apr. 12, 1750.

176 “I am glad”: to Strahan, June 2, 1750.

176 “By an entire dependence”:
Boston Weekly News-Letter,
Jan. 17, 1745.

177 “Dear Sister”: to Edward and Jane Mecom [1744–45],
PBF,
2:448.

178 “To prevent … our cannon”: Rawlyk,
Yankees at Louisbourg,
106–8.

178 “Wednesday last”: PG, July 18, 1745, PBF.

179 “If they had a pick ax …
New England’s
name”: Rawlyk,
Yankees at Louisbourg,
153–54.

181 “No one imagined”: to Jane Mecom, June [?] 1748.

181
Plain Truth: PBF,
3:180–204.

183 “The house was pretty full”:
ABF,
183.

183 “Where a Government”:
PG,
Dec. 3, 1747, PBF.

184 “A parcel”:
PG, Mar.
8, 1748, PBF.

185 “Thy project of a lottery”: from Logan, Dec. 3, 1747.

185 “The Quakers”:
ABF,
189–90.

185 “the late lotteries”:
PG,
Jan. 19, 1748, PBF.

186 “But at a dinner”:
ABF,
184.

186 “Unless we humble”: Proclamation for a General Fast, Dec. 7, 1747.

186 “He it was”: Logan to Penn, Nov. 24, 1749,
PBF,
3:185n.

8. ELECTRICITY AND FAME: 1748–51

187 “This Association”: Penn letters quoted in
PBF,
3:186n.

188 “Had he not”: Isaiah Thomas,
The History of Printing in America
(1810; rpt. Albany, 1874), 1:246.

189 “occasional buying”: articles of agreement with David Hall, Jan. 1, 1748.

189 “Mr. Hall”: to Strahan, Feb. 4, 1751.

189–90 “I am settling … business”: to Colden, Sept. 29, 1748.

191 “Dr. Spence”:
ABF,
240–41.